CassaFirE Launch Day and Blog Party

Today is the Catch Fire Blog Party, celebrating the release of CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh! The goal is to help CassaFire “catch fire” on the best seller charts and achieve the success of the first book, CassaStar. There’s also a special package of prizes being given away at the author’s blog (copies of CassaFire, CassaStar, tote bag, mug, and bookmarks) as well as book giveaways during his two-week blog tour. 

CassaFire is the sequel to Cavanaugh’s first book, CassaStar, an Amazon Top Ten Best Seller:

“…calls to mind the youthful focus of Robert Heinlein’s early military sf, as well as the excitement of space opera epitomized by the many Star Wars novels. Fast-paced military action and a youthful protagonist make this a good choice for both young adult and adult fans of space wars.” - Library Journal

CassaFire

by Alex J. Cavanaugh

CassaStar was just the beginning…

The Vindicarn War is a distant memory and Byron’s days of piloting Cosbolt fighters are over. He has kept the promise he made to his fallen mentor and friend - to probe space on an exploration vessel. Shuttle work is dull, but it’s a free and solitary existence. The senior officer is content with his life aboard the Rennather.

The detection of alien ruins sends the exploration ship to the distant planet of Tgren. If their scientists can decipher the language, they can unlock the secrets of this device. Is it a key to the Tgren’s civilization or a weapon of unimaginable power? Tensions mount as their new allies are suspicious of the Cassan’s technology and strange mental abilities. 

To complicate matters, the Tgrens are showing signs of mental powers themselves; the strongest of which belongs to a pilot named Athee, a woman whose skills rival Byron’s unique abilities. Forced to train her mind and further develop her flying aptitude, he finds his patience strained. Add a reluctant friendship with a young scientist, and he feels invaded on every level. All Byron wanted was his privacy…

I got CassaStaR for hubby for Christmas, and we read it together--and enjoyed it. We can't wait to read CassaFirE.

So head on over to Alex's place. Besides being one of the nicest guys on the blogosphere, he writes a fun book!

Fire! Fire!

Just a heads up to check back tomorrow!

Review - "Rising, Book 1 Resistance" by Laura Josephsen

Check It Out

Book Description:
All Alphonse wants is a quiet summer at home before his final months at university. What he gets is a half-dead stranger on his doorstep and the task of delivering a package to the leader of his home country. Not long after he boards a train toward the capital, he's attacked by knights, elite soldiers of the neighboring king.

Alphonse is temporarily rescued by Mairwyn, a mechanic with a haunted past and a deep hatred of knights. Together, they attempt to carry out Alphonse's urgent errand, only to learn that if they fail, countless people will die.

And even if they succeed, they may not be able to prevent the war that lurks on the horizon.

I guess I'm a sucker for geeky guys. Not that I'm suggesting my hubby is a geek--I can almost guarantee he'd be offended. But I do embrace my inner geek (Harry Potter helped me with that), so perhaps it's a bit of kindred spirit sort of thing.

In some ways Alphonse--who is so happy to be buried in a book--reminds me of Elend in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. Elend was a bit more proactive than Laura Josephsen's character, but Alphonse finally quits kicking against the pricks, so to speak, and finally accepts that he's one of few people in a position to stop something terrible from happening.

Genocide.

I found the character of Mairwyn to be endearing and intriguing. She's so stubborn and impatient, yet you can tell there's something else going on with her. As her personal history slowly unfolds, you realize why she's the way she is, and your heart breaks for her.

There's plenty of intrigue, suspense, and action in this story. I can vouch for how vile the villains are. While this is the first in a two-part series, the second book will be from the point of view of different characters as they continue to fight the psycho bad guys.

Querying Update and Building Your Platform

 Querying Update

 

I got my very first rejection -- a form rejection. 

Phew. I've truly been initiated ! I'm really a writer now.

One down, nine to go and I take hubby out to dinner.

Building Your Platform

You've all heard it. In today's publishing world, if you want an agent and/or publisher to consider your book, you'd best have an online presence.

So, you sign up for Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Google+, and whatever else out there strikes your fancy. You begin to stalk agents and other writers/authors to see what they're up to.

You begin blogging about your writing journey and start following loads of other writers, hoping they will follow you in return. You sign up for bloghops and contests. You're starting to get some regular followers who consistently comment. And, of course, you have to visit all their blogs and comment back. That's what it's all about, right? Networking?

And you find that you're having so much fun. The Internet has introduced you to hundreds if not thousands of interesting, entertaining people--and you've connected to many of them. You can't wait to read their next posts.

Then it starts to happen. You wake up in the middle of the night, wondering if you remembered to schedule your next post. Or worse, you wake up in the middle of the night because you can't think what to write for your next post.

The pressure mounts. What if your post is stupid? What if the people who've been commenting find other blogs they like better?

Your hands begin to shake when you haven't had your daily Internet fix. You're dying to know what everyone's up to, what things might inspire you in your blog posts.

And your writing?

When's the last time you actually sat down to write? Or when you did, your hand moved to the icon for your web browser? You didn't even realize it was moving of its own volition. Suddenly, a hour's gone by. Or two. Hours of precious time that you promised you'd spend on your book.

Because the whole point of all that platform building has been in preparation for your book.

Right?

 So, what do you do

to keep social media

from taking over

your life?

That Other Blog ...

If you're interested, you can check out my post on That Other Blog I post at on occasion.

Book Review - "Venom" by K.C. Grant

Book Description: 
Samantha Evans is determined to make a name for herself in the cutthroat world of advertising. Newly hired by a prestigious ad agency, she volunteers to work on location in Mexico City as a personal assistant to the beautiful and driven creative director Katrina Edwards. At first the association seems promising. But Ms. Edwards seems preoccupied in a way that makes Samantha increasingly uneasy. In fact, many in the group seem like they are not being completely open about the project, including David Ayala, the mysterious and moody photographer for whose attention the two women find themselves competing. After several strange accidents and numerous appearances by an unknown man, Samantha discovers the truth: not everyone on the team is in Mexico to create a stellar advertising pitch. When her sleuthing leads to her abduction, she is brought to the pyramids of Teotihuacan and comes face-to-face with the venomous evil of the South American crime boss known as The Serpent. Now Samantha must not only fight for her life, but she must also discover if she can trust the man she's come to love.

Samantha learns some important things about herself in this story, including whether or not she's got the disposition (or venomous lack of scruples--pun intended) to succeed in her chosen field. Her natural curiosity and interest in people lead her to notice things going on around her, and she discovers that something's not quite right. While she struggles to find her place in the group--with a boss determined to put her down at every opportunity--she also deals with news about her father's cancer diagnosis and surgery.

If you've never traveled around the Mexico City area and wondered about some great places to visit, this book will help you make a list. Should I ever get to make a trip to Mexico, I would love to visit the sites in the book and compare them with Samantha's experiences. I would hope my trip would turn out less eventful, since Samantha's was full of mystery and intrigue, to say nothing of a fight for her life.

And a dang cute guy.

Tag!

Source

I thought I was better at ducking, but perhaps this cold has slowed me down--it can't be my advanced years!

Anyway, Eve Gaal over at The Desert Rocks got me.

The Tag rules:
1. You must post the rules!
2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven seven (because it's a magical number) people and link to them.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Eve's Questions - My Answers
1.    Have you written a book?

Yes. I've got two completed books and two partials. One of the completed manuscripts I'm currently querying, and the other (that needs to be edited still) replaced one of the partials when it morphed from MG to YA. The other partial really needs to be told in more than one book, and I'll be outlining it as a trilogy later this year. 

2.    Were you a participant in the famous Underwear Challenge of 2010? 

No. But I did get sucked into it in 2011.

3.    What is your favorite children’s book?

Charlotte's Web 

4.    Tell us about the last time you went to the library. Alone or with someone else?

Last week, when I met some friends there. I work for my city and the library is attached to my building. I LOVE my library. 

5.    Do you prefer the internet for research?

I love doing research using the Internet. I let my fingers do the walking. 

6.    What’s your favorite flower?

I love the smell of carnations. 

7.    Do have a distaste for used cook books?

No, I just don't use them much anymore. 

8.    Have you ever used a book to repair a bed or to hold up the leg of a table? 

Nope. I have a very handy hubby. 

9.    If you could enter a certain scene in a book, which one would it be?

It would so be when Kaladin saves Dalinar in The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Those two men ROCK! 

10. What book is on your nightstand now?

Become by Ali Cross. 

11. Do you read to your pet?

Nope. My little doggy died last summer, but I didn't read to her anyway. Now, ask me about reading to my grandkids . . .

Okay, here are my questions:

1. If Abe Lincoln and George Washington got into a fight who’d win--and why?
2. What was your favorite book in 2011?
3. If you had a magical snail that could grant wishes, what would you ask for?
4. What would your last meal be if you were on death row?
5. Who is your favorite, Bill or Ted?  Why?
6. What will your weapon of choice be for the coming zombie apocalypse? Why?
7. Who is your favorite literary stalker?
8. If people were thrown in jail for bad habits, what would you be thrown in jail for?
9. What is the most distant place you've visited or lived?
10. If a spaceship were to land outside your house right now, would you get in it? If yes, where would you ask it to take you--and it could be anywhere you wanted to go.
11. Who is your favorite author?

And these are the poor suckers lucky people who get to answer them--go visit the blogs and check our their answers--though they may answer this at a time that best fits their schedules:

Laura Josephsen
Robin Weeks
Suzie F.
Far Away Eyes
Nancy Thompson
JeffO
Shelly Brown

LTUE

So, things are nuts, and I'm sick. This post will just have some pictures from the event. I took tons of notes and will rehash some of that information in subsequent posts.

Panel on Marketing

Authors Bree Despain, Lynn Hardy, Jenn Johansson, and Elana Johnson

Panel on Queries and Pitches

Lisa Mangum (author and acquisitions editor), Chris Schoebinger (Shadow Mountain), J Scott Savage (author), Kirk Lovell Shaw (Covenant Publishing), Donna Milakovic (moderator)

Panel on Making a Book Trailer

Heather Monson, Angela Corbett, Paul Genesse, Lani Woodland, Dan Wells

Author Michael Young on Avoiding Cliche

Author Andrea Pearson on Indie Publishing

Writing Excuses

Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, Larry Correia, Brandon's brother Jordy, Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson

Panel on Why We Love Horror

Nathan Shumate, Michael Brent Collings, Michael Collings, Robin Weeks (moderator), Jenn Johansson

Panel on What I Wish I'd Done Differently

Mette Ivie Harrison, Author Andrea Pearson, Brad R. Torgersen and Elana Johnson.

Panel on Plots, Subplots, and Foreshadowing

Brandon Sanderson, Stacy Whitman (editor), James A. Owen, J Scott Savage and Bree Despain

Panel on Urban Fantasy

Natalie Whipple, Bree Despain, Kasie West and James Dashner

Lotsa Peeps

Elizabeth Mueller, ?, Kasie West

The Schmidts

Leigh Covington, Brenda Sills, Me

Melony Pulley, Kenzie Pulley, Amy White, Me, Stephanie Kelly

Lotsa People

Peggy Eddleton, Leigh Covington, David Powers King

Heather Cole, Betsy Love, Theresa Sneed, Kari Pike

There were tons more classes and people. These were just a few of the ones I was able to attend or connect with.

Grammar Thursday and Life, the Universe and Everything

Ever get confused about which to use--who or whom? It's not as complicated as you might think. Ask yourself a simple question:

Who is doing what to whom?

The one doing the action is the subject: who.  The one being acted upon is the object: whom. 

This is where I am for three days. I'll chat about it in future posts. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

And the Winner Is . . .

The winner of the ebook is Bonnie!

Anybody going to Life, the Universe and Everything (LTUE) this week? It's a killer deal at $30 for three days. 

Here's my post from last year's event.

What Are You Doing When You Think You're Writing . . . and a Book Giveaway

Article

Valerie Ipson shared this fun post by Dan Berstein on The Barnes & Noble Review  about what you're really doing when you think you're sitting down to write.

It's worth the read and should give you a guilty smile.

Book Giveaway

I won a couple of kewl prizes over at Laura Josephsen's blog for the Favorite Character Blogfest (it was random rather than competitive). The first was a ten-page critique by Melanie Billings at Whiskey Creek Press, so I'm excited.

I also won an ebook copy of Laura's book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School). You can read what I thought of this book here. Hint: I LOVED it!

Since I already own the paper copy, I'm going to give away my ebook prize to one of you. All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and note in your comment below that you're interested in being part of the drawing. I'll announce the winner on Monday.

However, you might also want to note that Laura's getting ready to launch her next book, Rising (Part 1 Resistance). I'm reading this book right now and loving it.

Don't forget to post a comment with your email address if you'd like to have your name put in for the drawing.